mStoner

Union College Web Concept Survey Results

mStoner

The Process

mStoner’s goal was to create a website that told the Union story in a way that was authentic to the institution and compelling to

the audiences the College is trying to reach. To achieve that goal, mStoner took the following steps:

•Completed three days of qualitative on-campus intake with students, faculty, and administrators

•Developed a message platform that was vetted and refined by the Union College core project team

•Developed seven different theme-driven design concepts

•Worked with Union to narrow down the concepts to three versions to test

•Tested those three concepts via an online survey with prospective students– specifically, high school

sophomores and juniors

mStoner

The Purpose

• The survey results are meant to inform our decision, not to make our decision for us.

• Though it has been thoughtfully designed and thoroughly field-tested, the survey is not “scientific,” nor is it meant to be.

• The survey is designed to give Union and mStoner a sense of what an audience likes and doesn’t like about each design so we can make reasonably informed decisions about:

• which design best represents Union’s mission, while setting it apart from its competitors • how, if at all, that design should be modified after it is chosen.

• The most popular design will have people who hate it. The least popular design will have people who love it. That’s a good thing.

• mStoner’s only stake in the process is that Union get a design that represents the College in the most authentic and compelling way.

mStoner

The Process

•Email invitations sent to 11,000 high school students from the Admissions database

•As an incentive, participants were offered a chance to win a $150 Amazon gift certificate

•844 people began the survey for a click-through rate of 7.7% (the average is 3 to 5%)

•478 completed the survey for a completion rate of 56.6% (the average is about 60%)

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Respondent Breakdown

Response Percentage

Response Count

Female 60.3% 505

Male 34.0% 285

High School Sophomore 21.8% 183

High School Junior 66.0% 553

Parent of a High School Sophomore or Junior 6.7% 56

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Survey Questions

The survey was open for one week. As an incentive, participants were offered a chance to win a $150 gift certificate to Amazon. For each design, participants were asked the following questions:

•What does this design tell you about Union College? (open-ended)

•What do you like best about this design? (open-ended)

•What do you like least about this design? (open-ended)

•On a scale of 1-10, how much do you like this design?

Participants were than asked which of the three concepts they liked the best, which they liked the least, and which best conveyed each of a series of messages about Union College (closed-ended)

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Survey Results

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Concept 1 What does this design say about Union?•Union is about practical, hands-on learning; academics about more than books

•Union offers lots of activities, and students are involved.

•Union exudes independence, adventure, resolve, discovery, creativity

•Union is bold, exciting, and inviting

•Union is about engineering and the environment; outdoorsy

What do you like best about this design?•The dramatic photography; real people DOING things

•The design is simple and easy to navigate

•The contrast between background and photos

•The tagline and captions

•Shows rather than tells; pictures worth more than words

What do you like least about this design?•The photos change too quickly and there aren’t enough of them

•Too dark, not enough information

•Students don’t look happy

Note: The concept scrolled through three possible large photos with corresponding captions talking about opportunities at Union– only one of the photos is shown here

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Concept 2 What does this design say about Union?•Union is professional

•Union has a lot going on; lots of majors, lots of activities

•Union students are well-rounded

•Union students are happy and engaged

•Union is a typical liberal arts college

What do you like best about this design?•Lots of info; easily accessible

•Seems welcoming and easy to navigate

•It’s focused on the student

•Makes me feel warm and positive

What do you like least about this design?

•Busy, overwhelming, too many words

•Colors are bland

•Just another college website

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Concept 3What does this design say about Union?•Union is serious and academic

•Union is intellectual and multicultural

•Union has a lot of diversity

What do you like best about this design?•The navigation is clear and easy to read

•The colors and photography are eye-catching

•The “Union is you+” idea

•Its simplicity

What do you like least about this design?•Pictures are boring

•Not enough photos/phrases (only two)

•It’s a little vague

mStoner

Liked BestResponse Percentage

Response Count

Concept 1:“Thinking in Action”

7.1141.5% 197

Concept 2:“There’s More Than

One Union”6.56

28.8% 137

Concept 3:“Union is You +”

6.7929.7% 141

mStoner

The Horse Race

People who liked Concept 1 (Thinking in Action) most did so because:

•it’s unique

•it’s attention-getting

•it’s simple and uncluttered

•it made me want to learn more

•the color and photography

•“Although it showed only a few options, it showed that the doors leading to an interesting academic career are wide open at Union, and all it takes is for me to step through.”

People who liked Concept 2 (More Than One Union) most did so because :

•it seems easiest to navigate

•“it matches my criteria for a college”

•it emphasizes the personal connection

•it balances appearance and substance

•it shows the most information

•“The individual student profile on the homepage gives the website life and provides insight on the diverse interests of students at Union”

People who liked Concept 3 (Union is You +) most did so because :

•it’s simple and direct; easiest to read

•it looks the smartest/most intelligent

•more info than 1, less cluttered than 2

•most pleasing design

•best combination of words and visuals

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Liked LeastResponse Percentage

Response Count

Concept 1:“Thinking in Action”

7.1126.0% 230

Concept 2:“There’s More Than

One Union”6.56

32.4% 287

Concept 3:“Union is You +”

6.7941.6% 368

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The Horse Race

People who liked Concept 1 (Thinking in Action) least did so because :

•it has the least information

•it’s not personal enough

•it’s too outdoorsy; not academic enough

People who liked Concept 2 (More Than One Union) least did so because:

•it’s too busy and cluttered

•it has too many words

•it’s too much like other college websites

•it’s boring

People who liked Concept 3 (Union is You +) least did so because :

•it’s boring; didn’t peak my interest

•I don’t get it

•too much about cultural diversity

•just didn’t like it

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Results by Key Message

36.8%53.9%26.2%Union has top-notch academic programs.

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

This design makes Union stand out from other liberal

arts colleges. 57.4% 20.0% 34.6%

This design makes me want to apply to Union. 50.4% 34.1% 36.8%

Union is a diverse and welcoming community. 49.3% 29.4% 41.6%

Union offers numerous opportunities for students to

play a leadership role.50.6% 53.6% 14.3%

Union offers a challenging yet flexible curriculum that

students can tailor to their own interests and passions.40.4% 47.6% 29.8%

This design makes me feel like I would fit in at Union. 48.1% 35.5% 33.1%

This design makes me want to learn more about

Union.50.7% 32.1% 39.7%

This design makes me think it would be easy to find

the information I’m looking for on the website. 34.9% 49.7% 38.5%

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Interpreting Messages•“Thinking in Action” ran away with the “makes Union distinctive,” “makes me feel like I would fit in,” and “makes me want to learn/apply” messages, and it came in a strong second in the “leadership roles” and “flexible curriculum” messages. We think this is because the design conveys much of the breadth implied in the other two designs while being more distinctive and action-oriented.

•“There’s More Than One Union” is likely leading in the “flexible curriculum,” “academic programs,” and “leadership” messages because of the amount of overall information on the page and the focus on combinations of majors and co-curricular activities.

•We suspect the overall amount of information on the pages is also why “There’s More Than One Union” is leading in the “makes me think information would be easy to find” category. Both of the other designs, however, received high marks in the anecdotal comments for their organizational clarity.

•“Thinking in Action” had a lower showing for the “academic programs” message, but we are very confident this can be addressed in the choices of photos and captions included in the mix and in the sub-pages beyond the home page

mStoner

Recommendation

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Our Recommendation We r e c o m m e n d m o v in g f o r w a r d w it h t h e “ Th in k in g in A c t io n ”

c o n c e p t . In addition to being the most broadly popular of the three designs and coming in first or a strong second in almost all of the message categories, it was identified by almost 60 percent of the survey participants as the design that most set Union apart from other liberal arts colleges. The only change we would recommend is one that was always planned: supplementing the existing photos and captions with more traditionally academic and student life-focused photos as well.

It is worth mentioning that “There’s More Than One Union” did poll very well with sophomores, as well as with the handful of parents who took the survey. In general, they liked the amount of information on the page and the personal connection with students, or to put it another way, they liked the “well-rounded information about well-rounded students.” These are the very attributes, however, that made other viewers think this design was the most similar to other liberal arts colleges. This concept is a safe choice, but the least distinctive.

Though “Union is You +” had its partisans, they were less able to put their finger on why they liked it. We suspect it may be because it split the difference between the other two designs, containing a bit more of the drama and visual draw of “Thinking in Action” and a bit more of the information of “There’s More Than One Union.” Similarly, those that didn’t like it couldn’t really say why. They just didn’t like it.